1. Field of the Invention
This invention is in the field of furnace baskets which are used to retain parts to be heat treated in high temperature heat treating furnaces.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art furnace baskets are conventionally used to contain metal parts for heat treatment in a high temperature furnace. Such baskets have used a first and second plurality of parallel spaced rods that form a grid for the bottom with the intersections of the rods in the grid being arc or pressure welded. Further, the basket sides had upstanding bar pieces to which a perimetral rod which engaged the tops of the upstanding pieces was arcwelded. Due to the arc-welds, the baskets not only were expensive to manufacture but frequently fractured at the welds making frequent repairs necessary. The useful life of such prior art baskets was, thus, relatively short.